


Helpless

by annaxmims



Series: Tumblr Prompts [101]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt, Eventual Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Serious Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:01:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26287642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annaxmims/pseuds/annaxmims
Summary: Tumblr Prompt:I hope this isn’t confusing but, Carlos had gone to a call and got stabbed/really bad injury but escaped. He was far away from home and one the news hit saying he was confirmed dead. T.K was devastated and the firefam tried to help him. Days later a badly injured Carlos arrives at the fire station limping and bleeding out as he tries to call for help but he collapses and the firefam has to hold crying T.K as they help Carlos. Thank you if you do this fic!
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Series: Tumblr Prompts [101]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1626286
Comments: 4
Kudos: 207





	Helpless

“TK. TK talk to me, buddy. TK you gotta breathe.”

Distantly TK could hear Judd speaking. He knew he ought to answer him but he couldn’t find the words. His mouth wouldn’t move. None of his limbs would move either. It was if he was frozen in place. The only thing going through his brain was the words on the screen,  _ Austin PD Carlos Strand-Reyes pronounced dead. _

“Cap what do we do?” Judd hissed, turning to Owen for answers. 

“I don’t know if there’s anything we can do?”

“What if he relapses? This is gonna destroy him. They have a kid Cap,” Judd was trying his best to hold back tears. TK was his little brother, and some days Carlos was the only thing that got him out of bed. He could only think of Noah, too young to understand why his dad wasn’t coming home. 

“We have to be there for him. He can’t be alone. I’m scared of what he’d do if he was.”

Judd nodded solemnly. The loss of Carlos was going to wreck them all. He wasn’t sure if Michelle knew yet. She’d taken Mateo out on a med call to give him a refresher on his BLS skills. Marjan was out of town visiting family. Carlos’ family was still in San Antonio, though he was sure AFD would take care of telling them.

He wasn’t sure he’d ever felt this helpless.

*****

Helpless. That was how Carlos felt. He couldn’t feel anything but the white-hot pain in his ribs. He was sure the bullet was still lodged there. He could only pray that his team had caught the guy. In the chaos of the shoot out, he’d barely been able to stumble away from the action. His vision was cloudy. He couldn’t see straight in front of him. He didn’t know what to do.

They’d been at a warehouse well outside of Austin city limits. He was a good hour away from the city at least. That is if he hadn’t wandered in the opposite direction.

He reached for his walkie, doing his best to send out a GPS ping and hoping it would reach his captain. 

From his poor observation of his surroundings, he was able to discern that he was in fact in the middle of nowhere. He slumped against a tree and pulled his hand away from his side. It was sticky with bright red blood and he could see through his shirt where the bullet had shredded both the fabric and his skin. He bit down on his lip hard enough to draw blood, trying to suppress his scream as he tried to pull the fabric away from his skin to further assess the damage. 

One-handed he was able to unbutton his uniform shirt. He was glad for his own foresight that his knife was easily accessible in his upper pants pocket. He cut a long strip off of his undershirt and pressed it over the wound, praying that it was clean enough. He then cut another larger strip and did a haphazard job of tying it around himself to cover his makeshift bandage.

He could only think of TK and Noah waiting for him at home. Did TK know? Were they looking for him? Noah was too young to understand. He was only two. It broke his heart to even think of his son growing up without him. 

He reached for his walkie again, sending out another GPS ping.

_ Let them find me. Please let them find me. _

*****

“Daddy,” Noah shrieked when TK entered the house. He bounced excitedly on the floor, reaching up to TK as a request to be held.

TK picked him up and Noah latched on tightly to his neck. TK pressed his cheek to his soft curls, trying to hold back tears.

“Papa?” Noah questioned looking around.

That broke him. Unshed tears ran down his cheeks and Noah looked up at his father concerned.

“Daddy cry?” he put his small hand on TK’s cheek. “No cry. Daddy okay.”

TK sat on the couch and held Noah close, rocking him gently.

“Are you going to stay with him?” Grace asked Owen. She looked close to tears herself, Avery clutched close to her chest.

“Yeah, there’s no way he can be alone tonight.”

“Do you think he’d-” Grace trailed off but Owen knew what she meant.

“I’m not sure. With Noah, I would hope not. But he’s grieving. I figure it’ll be best if I’m here. For him and the baby.”

Grace nodded solemnly, “If you need anything call me or Judd. I doubt either of us will get much sleep tonight.”

“I will. Do you think you could watch Noah again tomorrow? I’m taking him to the station to pick up Carlos’ things and talk to his Captain. And his family is coming in first thing in the morning to help make arrangements.”

“Of course.”

“You’re an angel, Grace Ryder.”

Grace just laughed, “If only. I’ll see you tomorrow Captain Strand. Bye Noah.”

“Bye-bye,” Noah wiggled just enough in TK’s grasp to turn and see her.

When Grace closed the door behind her the house grew strangely quiet. It no longer felt like what he was used to. Noah, seeming to sense that something was different, kept close to TK’s side. Normally he would have been playing on the floor or watching TV, babbling animatedly to the characters. Carlos would be in the kitchen making dinner, fussing at TK when he tried to ‘help’. Owen’s heart broke for his son and grandson, but he had to be okay for right now. TK was struggling too much for Owen to break down too. 

He went into the kitchen to round up something for dinner and his heart broke once again at the note on the fridge. It was very clearly Carlos’ handwriting, neat block letters as opposed to his son’s chicken scratch. 

_ Don’t forget we need groceries. I love you _

He managed to find some alfredo in the freezer and blessed Carlos’s tendency to overdo it on the amount of food he made for his family.

He managed to pry Noah away from TK long enough to bathe him and coax TK into a shower. None of them were very hungry so most of the alfredo went back into the fridge. He let TK put tuck Noah in and read him a story and then he sent TK off to bed himself, knowing that he needed to rest though he doubted he would sleep.

He made himself at home on the couch, turning on the TV at a low volume. He didn’t think he’d be getting much sleep either. He had just barely dozed off when the baby monitor in the living room blasted with Noah’s cries. He made to get up and go get him, but he heard TK’s door open.

_ “Hey shh, it’s okay bubba. You’re okay, it was just a bad dream.” _

_ “Papa.” _

_ “I know. I miss papa too.” _

TK and Noah’s voices faded out, then he heard TK’s bedroom door close. He figured he must have brought Noah to sleep with him. Confident that they had each other as comfort, Owen once again made himself comfortable on the couch and dozed off.

*****

When TK woke, he was made painfully aware that the bed was cold and empty. He rolled over, preparing himself for the fact that Carlos wouldn’t be there. Instead, he found his son, curled up on his side clutching Carlos’ pillow, pacifier beside him.

He slid out of bed as quietly as he could before slipping downstairs. His dad was awake making coffee in the kitchen.

“Morning,” he greeted hoarsely.

“Morning,” Owen slid a mug across the counter to him. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m in shock still I guess. Honestly, I just feel numb. Noah is helping, I’m trying to be okay because I still have to take care of him and be there for him.”

Owen nodded solemnly, “Do you want me to come with you today, or are you okay to go by yourself?”

“I think I need to do this alone. I won’t be gone long. I just want to talk to the captain I guess, and try to make sense of whatever went on that day.”

“I’ll stay with Noah.”

“Thanks, dad. For everything.”

“Of course son.”

TK said goodbye to Noah when he woke up and made his way to the police station. None of Carlos’ coworkers could look him in the eye. Not even his partner. He wanted to scream. To tell them that he wasn’t made of glass. That he wouldn’t break. But he couldn’t really convince himself that it was the truth.

“TK,” Captain Lincoln greeted.

“Hi, Captain Lincoln.”

“How are you?”

“I’m doing okay. I’m still in shock I guess. I’m just trying to be strong for Noah.”

“How is the little man doing?”

“He’s okay. Just confused. He keeps looking for Carlos.”

“Poor kid. Come on, I’ll take you to Carlos’ locker. I’m sure you remember where his desk is.”

“Yeah, I think I remember a little too well.”

He was led into the locker room and Captain Lincoln produced a set of keys to unlock the door.

“I’ll let you have some time.”

TK nodded and turned back to the locker as the door closed behind him. The first thing he pulled out was a hoodie. It was one of Carlos’ favorites as well as TK’s. He always stole it and Carlos had threatened to hide it from him. TK laughed as he removed Noah’s stuffed bunny. He’d handed it to Carlos one morning before work and thrown a fit until Carlos agreed to take it with him. He found other random things like a spare pair of socks and a few napkins from fast-food restaurants. But taped to the inside of the door, he found a picture from their wedding, a picture from the day they adopted Noah, and love letters written on sticky notes. He held the pictures carefully in his hand and folded up the notes, sliding them into his pockets.

Captain Lincoln led him into his office and sat him down.

“This was all we found,” he slid Carlos’ badge and gun across the desk. “You can keep his badge if you’d like. Our team is still working on finding his body.”

“They didn’t find the body?”

“No. Carlos was injured in the shoot-out and no one realized until afterward that he was missing. A lot of things were happening at the same time.”

Lincoln seemed regretful as he delivered the news.

TK was about to speak but he was cut off by another officer rushing into the office.

“Captain Lincoln I need to show you something immediately.”

He excused himself and followed the officer out of the room. A few minutes later he rushed back into the office looking like he’d seen a ghost.

“TK, I don’t want to give you false hope. But we just got a GPS signal from Carlos’ radio. He might be alive.”

*****

“Family of Carlos Strand-Reyes?”

TK stood abruptly, jostling a half-asleep Noah. He whined pitifully and snuggled farther into TK’s chest. 

“That’s us.”

“Your husband was very lucky. We were able to remove the bullet without causing further damage. He does have an infection which is to be expected, but we have him on antibiotics to treat him. He’s waking up now, you can see him two at a time.”

The doctor led them down the hall to Room 118. It was unspoken that TK would go first.

He carried Noah into the room, trying to stay quiet. Carlos was awake but groggy.

“TK?”

“Hi baby,” TK sat in one of the chairs next to his bed. He rearranged Noah in his lap so that he could hold Carlos’ hand.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“This isn’t your fault. I’m just happy you’re alive. I don’t know what we would do without you.”

“I can’t believe I almost left you behind.”   
“You didn’t. You’re here and you’re okay. That’s all that matters to me.”

Noah stirred in his lap and looked around, trying to locate the sound of their voices as he rubbed his fists over his eyes.

“Papa?”

“I’m right here bubba.”

“Papa,” Noah reached out for him, whining as he tried to wiggle off TK’s lap.

TK arranged him gently in Carlos’ bed so that he wouldn’t hurt him and Noah pressed in close, clutching the fabric of his hospital gown.

He ran his hand up and down his son’s back, whispering to him as he fell back asleep.

TK noticed Carlos’ eyes drooping and lifted his hand to kiss it, “I love you, get some rest.”

“Don’t leave me?”

“Never.”

“I love you.”

“I love you more.”


End file.
